NOVEMBER 2019 Issue 9|WOODHOUSE REIGNS VICTORIOUS IN Issue 9

Interview Jeff smith Jeff Smith drops by for a chat, among the topics are his route into , his World Championship final defeat and his recent WDF success. Page14-15

Preview PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS We preview the Players Championship Finals which takes place in Minehead during November. Page 22-28 win European winmau darts Courtesy of the guys at Winmau, a of Steve Beaton darts will be up for grabs CHAMPIONSHIP as part of Issue Nine’s competition. Details inside...... CROSS ENDS EUROPEAN Page 40 DUCK lifted his third major title in Gottingen as he defeated in the final. Page 8 The Amateur Game BDO Insight The very latest from the grassroots including coverage from Extensive reports as the BDO visit the for Iceland, the and around the country. the World , as well as opens held in Northern Page 30-31 Ireland, New Zealand and Canada. Page 10-11 CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE VAN GERWEN PUNISHES WRIGHT AS HE LIFTS CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IN He clinched top spot by defeating an out of sorts Rob Cross 10-8. Cross failed to register a win in the competition. Wright was joined in the last four by Welshman Price, who, after a first-round win against Cross, 10-5, came through a shootout with Gurney, with a 10-6 victory to qualify. Smith would start far too slow to trouble Wright in the semi-finals, with the World Cup winner taking a 7-0 lead, before settling for an 11-5 win with a 103.52 average. Van Gerwen was forced to go the distance with

Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig, PDC Price in their last four contest, with Price’s scoring deserting him when he had the throw in the deciding leg. The reigning World Champion took out completed a grand slam of PDC 46 to reach the final. tournaments at The Morningside Arena in Leicester, as he clinched the Paddy Power Champions League Wright will rue his missed chances in the final, as he of Darts at the fourth time of asking with a nail- was by far the better player for the majority of the biting 11-10 win against the luckless Peter Wright match. in the final. It was a blistering start from both, with van The Dutchman’s previous best effort was an 11-5 Gerwen taking the opener in eleven darts with an final defeat to Phil Taylor in the inaugural staging of 88 checkout, and Wright responding with a 156 the tournament in 2016, and he rode his luck after checkout to level. “MVG” then crashed in a 154 the group phase to pick up the £100,000 winners’ finish to lead again at 2-1. van Gerwen then missed cheque, along with a bizarre belt from the sponsors three darts to break Wright and then had to watch as a trophy. as the Scot put in an eleven darter of his own to lead 4-3 at the first break. “MVG” recovered from 4-2 down in his opening group game to defeat 10-8 and then A 10-7 lead then seemed an unassailable one for returned later the same evening to take a 5-0 lead Wright, but he then missed three darts at double 12 against Michael Smith, eventually repelling a late for the match, choosing to turn around to the crowd fightback from “Bully Boy” to take a 10-6 win and after missing the second dart. Those misses were secure his last four place. He rounded off his group fatal, as he not only watched MVG save the match campaign with a 10-4 win against Gary Anderson, with his last dart in hand on double seven, but he who was already eliminated before their meeting, to then saw van Gerwen reel off four legs without reply finish top of the pile. to secure the title. Smith booked the runners up spot in the group, Words: PAUL MASON after beating Anderson 10-8 in the first round of matches, and then coming out on top in a tense 10-9 win against James Wade, where the winner qualified. Group B winner was Peter Wright, who was also Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig, PDC flawless in taking three wins from as many matches. “Snakebite” began with a 3-0 deficit to before he turned the game around to win 10-7. In a high-quality contest, Wright made it successive wins with a 10-8 victory against Gerwyn Price, a majestic 161 and 125 checkouts the highlight for the Scot.

06 www.dartsplanet.tv Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig, PDC

FIVE-STAR VAN GERWEN LIFTS WORLD GRAND PRIX IN DUBLIN Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig, PDC

Michael van Gerwen dominated in Dublin for the his victory. fifth time as he beat a defiant 5-2 in “It’s been a phenomenal week for me, and I played the World Grand Prix final at the CityWest Hotel. really well, and it was a really good performance in The world number one followed up his win over Peter the final because Dave put me under pressure. This Wright in last year’s final with a stunning showing was some of the best darts I’ve seen from Dave, and once again, as he ended Chisnall’s impressive run he never gave in. at the concluding hurdle. “He had a great tournament, and he played really Van Gerwen raced out of the gates, whitewashing well and pushed me, but every time in the important Chisnall in the opening set and from there, the St moments I did the right thing – and I think going 3-1 Helens man would have feared the worst. up was a big moment. Although, with scores tied at two-a-piece in the “I feel good, and I want to keep this form going now second set, Chisnall pinned a maximum and a into the big tournaments we have coming up.” blistering 101 checkout under intense pressure to Van Gerwen survived a scare earlier on in the level up proceedings. tournament as Jamie Hughes took the Dutchman Danish Darts Open champion, Chisnall, led not once to the distance, but wins over , but twice in set three, only to falter in the fifth leg, Mervyn King, and Chisnall in the final with van Gerwen finding a 111 outshot to regain his sealed his fifth World Grand Prix crown and 50th slender advantage. televised title. Another ton-plus checkout handed the Dutchman As for Chisnall, despite enduring a disappointing a 2-0 lead in the fourth set, and despite a valiant defeat in the final, he enjoyed a vigorous run, getting comeback from Chisnall, he moved 3-1 ahead. A 3-1 the better of Gerwyn Price, , Nathan scoreline became 4-1, and van Gerwen moved on Aspinall and on his way to Saturday’s the cusp of victory once again. conclusion. Chisnall had different ideas; however, he pinned a 13-dart leg to move back within two sets, only for van Gerwen to find two maximums in what would be the final set of the match, and close out a 5-2 triumph. “It means a lot to me, and I’m really pleased with this victory,” Van Gerwen admitted to pdc.tv following Words: BEN HUDD

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allowed O’Shea to step up, land double 10 at the first SENSATIONAL O’SHEA AND time of asking and secure his place in history. For that win, O’Shea secures a place at the 2020 BDO AWESOME ASHTON TRIUMPH World Championships and therefore forces previous provisional qualifier Aaron Turner into Monday’s AT THE WORLD MASTERS playoff. DO world number 219, John O’Shea, staged In the ladies competition, beat Anastasia a remarkable run through the field to win the Dobromyslova 5-4 to defend the World Masters title 2019 One80 L-Style World Masters at the she won in 2018. Circus Tavern as Lisa Ashton won the ladies ‘The Lancashire Rose’ had beaten Zandra Charbonneau, title for the third time. Debra Ivey, Anne Willkomm and Margaret Sutton to ‘The Joker’, a quarter-finalist in this make the quarter-finals, where she saw off B competition back in 2016, completed his winner Mayumi Ouchi 4-1 with an 85.7 average. fairytale week in Purfleet by beating 6-4 in She then beat Ouchi’s compatriot Kasumi Sato, who sets to become the first Irishman to win the prestigious had already beaten Priscilla Steenbergen, Fallon World Masters crown. Sherrock and on route to the semis, 5-1 This year’s rule changes, which saw the old format to set up the meeting with old rival Dobromyslova. reintroduced with seeded players starting from the The Russian had beaten the likes of Donna Gleed, floor, produced several shocks, with only nine of the and close friend 16 seeds making it to the televised stages. to make the final and she started the showpiece game The entire week looked set to be dominated by off- brightly, breaking in the third leg of the match. the- shenanigans, with re-draws being done in That enabled her to move 4-2 up, only for Ashton to all four singles competitions and BDO chairman Des reel off three legs on the spin to triumph 5-4, finishing Jacklin seemingly announcing that he would resign in with an 85.5 average as she won the Masters for the January, but O’Shea’s heroics ensured that the return third time and secured a second BDO major final win of top-level darts to the iconic Circus Tavern would be over Dobromyslova in the last two months. remembered for the right reasons. O’Shea was far from the only Emerald Isle native to The Cork ace started his week on the Wednesday by taste success over the weekend, with both beating Milan Slama 3-0, a result he followed up with and Katie Sheldon triumphing in the youth events. 3-1 wins over Dave Evans and Jacques Labre to make the last 32, where he beat ’s Justin Hood by the Barry nailed a 91.44 average in the Boys’ Masters same scoreline. final as he beat Yorkshire’s Charlie Manby 4-3, while WDF World Cup Girls Singles runner-up Sheldon beat He then produced a weekend-high 97.25 average to ’s Sophie McKinlay to become the second Irish beat in the last 16 and book his girl to win the Girls Masters following Robin Byrne’s win place on Sunday, where he met in 2014. international Neil Duff in the quarter-finals. Barry, who had already secured his PDC World O’Shea raced into a 3-0 lead, and while Duff made a Championship debut and a maiden BDO ranking title game of it in the end, the Joker ran out a 4-1 winner, this month, also did well in the BDO Youth World and he then improved on that in the semis, beating Championship rounds played over the weekend, impressive Belgian , who had reaching the final. been in one of the games of the tournament against Canada’s Jeff Smith on Saturday, 5-1. The young Irishman will meet defending champion In the final O’Shea won the first five legs to give himself Leighton Bennett in the game set to be played in an early 2-0 lead, only for Waites, who had beaten Erik January on the stage at the Indigo at the O2 in . Van Manen, Rodney Kane, , Paul Hogan, Carl Hamilton and Mike Warburton to reach the final, to reel off five himself to level things up. Words: Andrew sinclair Photo Credits: Chris Sargeant, BDO O’Shea would then capitalise on some missed doubles to take a 3-2 lead into the break, and while Waites levelled things once again at 4-4, the Irishman capitalised to make it 5-4, and he started the tenth set superbly, taking out a 14-darter to move within one of the match. Waites then landed a 50 checkout to make it 1-1 in that set and ‘Scotty 2 Hotty’, who had landed 170 and 164 finishes earlier in the day, had darts to make it five sets apiece but he missed double four, which 12 www.dartsplanet.tv ALAN KING MEMORIAL SUCCESS FOR HEREWINI IN NEW ZEALAND arren Herewini continued his blistering vein of form as he lifted the Alan King Memorial in Dunedin, New Zealand. Photo Credit: Scott McCreadie, Darts After winning the and Classic during the last season and sealing his place at the BDO World Championship, Herewini got his 2019/20 campaign off to a BDO WORLDWIDE D flying start. Herewini began a rampant run to victory with back-to- back whitewashes, thrashing both Jason Milne and Marc KEWISH AND HETA CLAIM Gillan to nil. The Porirua-based ace resumed his dominance in AUSTRALIAN MASTERS TITLES IN comfortably seeing off Chris Stafford and the esteemed former champion, , to book his place in the GEELONG final. amon Heta and Tori Kewish lifted Herewini convincingly fought past titles as the BDO-ranked season got quarter-finalist Mike Day in the final, winning through 6-3. underway in the Oceanic region. Day, who this year has reached four quarter-finals going Heta, who won the Australian Masters into the inaugural Kiwi event this season, defeated and reached the Graeme Ryder, Richard Te Raki, Mike Thomas and Taunga quarter-finals last season, defended Te Moananui on his way to the final. his crown as he defeated number one D seed, Stuart Coburn, in the final. Record four-time winner, Tony Carmichael, departed in the second round at the hands of Levi Koroheke while The -based thrower claimed an impressive defending champion Haupai Puha was absent. scalp in the quarter-finals as he defeated Justin Thompson, while runner-up, Coburn, saw off After Taunga Te Moananui exited in the second round the likes of , Mitchell Clegg and Peter of the Men’s event, there was a further success for Machin during an inspired run. the Te Moananui family as Patience and S’Vania both reached the Ladies’ semi-finals - with Patience prevailing Elsewhere, Tori Kewish lifted yet another ladies’ victorious. title in Australia after a successful season last time around, in which she narrowly missed out on BDO Dunedin’s very own Te Moananui defeated Vani Bakani World Championship qualification. 5-4 in a narrow victory in the final to emulate her mother’s Alan King Memorial triumph back in 2011. Kewish convincingly beat Barb Smyth in the quarter-finals as well as denying Chissy Sheerin in The next BDO-ranked events in the Oceanic region will the final. Sheerin had seen off Lorraine Burn in the be the Great Lakes Open and Ted Clements Memorial - last four. which both take place during the weekend of November 9. Upcoming events in the Oceanic region include the Alan King Memorial at the end of October, as Words: Ben Hudd well as the Great Lakes Open and prestigious Ted Clements Memorial In November. Words: Ben Hudd Meanwhile in canada.... David Cameron and Karrah Boutilier claimed Phoenix Darts Open titles across the pond in Canada, while Alberta’s very own Jim Edwards lift- ed the 62nd annual , winning his first BDO ranking title in almost three years.

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Photo Credit: Scott McCreadie, Darts Australia ISSUE 9 | CLINICAL CROSS ENDS EUROPEAN DUCK IN GOTTINGEN

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